For our project, I have chosen one of four general approaches for designing an overview: posing a problem that the learner will solve in the unit.
The overview will be short (roughly half a page). Presenting the overview as a classroom problem that Edmodo will help teachers solve will increase the learner’s interest in the materials.
In addition, I have chosen the overview because we have teachers as learners primarily, but each teacher will return to the classroom and teach a class of students how to perform each step in the process as well. If the modules can be used with both the classroom teachers and the students, their value will increase dramatically.
While an overview is primarily used to teach facts and concepts, I believe that it will work well with a procedure-based training program. Each overview will end with the objective for the unit.
Topic
Overview
Creating an Edmodo account
The bell rings, and you wish your students a good morning. You begin explaining the assignment for the day when Johnny comes in tardy for the third time. Without missing a beat, you remind him that the next tardy will land him in detention after school, then finish explaining the assignment for the day.
You stand waiting for your students to get started and notice three things. (1) Half of your students are staring blankly at the wall (2) A fourth of your class is taking out their books to start the assignment (3) two students are fiddling with their I-pods, one student is trying to send a cell phone text message without being noticed, and another student has asked to use one of the laptops in the classroom to type up the book assignment because his handwriting is illegible.
Your students live in a digital age. This proposes a problem for many classroom teachers when students don’t engage in the material. In this module, you will solve this problem by learning how to digitize your classroom.
You will…
Sign up for an Edmodo account.
Create your classes within Edmodo.
Learn about built-in tutorials and features on Edmodo to help you get started.
Instructing students on the basics of Edmodo
Posting messages in Edmodo
You give your class the good news that you will be using Edmodo in your classroom. You write the Group Code on the board and instruct students to use the classroom laptops to go create an account and post an introductory message on the class wall to get started. Moments later, you log in to your Edmodo classroom to explain the first Edmodo assignment and you realize that your students have plastered graffiti all over your classroom wall, and you can’t tell who the culprits are because your students chose user names like Bubbles123 and TheWebkinzRule42.
In this module, you will learn how to prevent this problem by introducing your students to Edmodo one step at a time.
You will…
Access your group codes.
Define your Edmodo expectations.
Create your students’ user names, or create guidelines for your students to create their own user names.
Educate your students on your Edmodo expectations by creating the first assignment in Edmodo.
Creating and sending assignments to groups
It’s been a few days since you introduced your class to Edmodo, and you are interested in making Edmodo a daily part of your class routine.
In this module you will learn how to integrate Edmodo into your daily classroom routine.
You will…
Create an assignment in Edmodo.
Send the assignment to specific groups.
Set up and follow a routine for yourself and for your students in order to use Edmodo on a daily basis.
Instructing parents to create and link an Edmodo account
You have been using Edmodo for a week when you find an email from a concerned parent in your inbox. The parent wants to know why her son is using a social network like Facebook to chat with his friends online as part of an assignment for class. This parent doesn’t allow her son to use Facebook, and she is demanding that you excuse her son from the Edmodo assignments.
In this module, you will learn how to prevent this problem by introducing your students’ parents to Edmodo.
You will…
Write a parent letter to introduce the concept of Edmodo, highlighting the benefits of the secure social network.
Instruct parents to create a parent Edmodo account.
Instruct parents to connect their parent account to their student’s account.
Adding events to Edmodo calendar
Grading with Edmodo (quizzes, assignments, and participation in chat)
You have been using Edmodo for a few months when you realize that your parents and students go to your wiki to check the class calendar and daily assignment schedule, they go to the school website to check their grades, and they go to the Edmodo classroom to turn in assignments and participate in group work. You are concerned that your students and parents spend too much time checking all of the separate online resources in order to stay organized and informed.
In this module, you will learn how to set up an Edmodo calendar and start using the grading system within Edmodo in order to make Edmodo the primary source of information for your students and parents.
You will…
Create events in different group calendars.
Set up quizzes and polls.
Use the grading feature in Edmodo to grade student work.
Edmodo Project
You are planning your classes for next year when you decide to fully integrate Edmodo into your teaching permanently.
In this module you will apply all of the skills from this training in order to create a unit of study for a class that you currently teach or expect to teach next year.
You will…
Set up a new group in Edmodo that matches the class you will teach.
Create a calendar that matches your syllabus for the class you will teach.
Create at least one assignment in Edmodo that you will assign to your students in the class you will teach.
Create at least one quiz that you will use to assess the students in the class you will teach.
Create a poll or discussion post prompt that students will use in the class you will teach.
References:
Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Instructional Message:
Course Project Week 4
Higher-ability students” (Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2011).
Concepts”
(Morrison, Ross, Kalman, & Kemp, 2011).
You stand waiting for your students to get started and notice three things. (1) Half of your students are staring blankly at the wall (2) A fourth of your class is taking out their books to start the assignment (3) two students are fiddling with their I-pods, one student is trying to send a cell phone text message without being noticed, and another student has asked to use one of the laptops in the classroom to type up the book assignment because his handwriting is illegible.
Your students live in a digital age. This proposes a problem for many classroom teachers when students don’t engage in the material. In this module, you will solve this problem by learning how to digitize your classroom.
You will…
Posting messages in Edmodo
In this module, you will learn how to prevent this problem by introducing your students to Edmodo one step at a time.
You will…
In this module you will learn how to integrate Edmodo into your daily classroom routine.
You will…
In this module, you will learn how to prevent this problem by introducing your students’ parents to Edmodo.
You will…
Grading with Edmodo (quizzes, assignments, and participation in chat)
In this module, you will learn how to set up an Edmodo calendar and start using the grading system within Edmodo in order to make Edmodo the primary source of information for your students and parents.
You will…
In this module you will apply all of the skills from this training in order to create a unit of study for a class that you currently teach or expect to teach next year.
You will…
References:
Morrison, G. R., Ross, S. M., Kalman, H. K., & Kemp, J. E. (2011). Designing effective instruction (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.